Tortilla de Patate, otra vez

I am working on a new post about Momofuku, but it is taking some time & energy. In the mean time, I encourage you to revisit this recipe from Carmen, if you are looking for something to make for dinner or lunch.

Celebrity Chef David Chang

Very rarely is there a male celebrity who makes me swoon like a teenager. Some of my past loves have been: Fred Astaire, Rod Stewart, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Also Vince D'Onofrio, in certain roles. I hesitate to write about my new smittenly love, David Chang. My younger self would've probably become his groupie and followed him around begging him to love me, even though he was a total asshole. I am now old enough to know better. (Plus, he is much younger than I, so it's just weird to be thinking of him that way. I'm more comfortable having carnal thoughts about Patrick Stewart.)

If the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, the way to MY heart is through noodle. I fell in love with David Chang because his passion in life was noodles. He sought out noodles in Japan, as many people do, with a singular passion. I admire this quest in ways I cannot express, because it is a thing deep inside my soul. I know it's goofy, and it sounds pretty stupid coming from a Midwest farmer's granddaughter, but David Chang's story appeals to me on many levels. Three of the levels are 1) obsession with noodles, 2) aimlessly trying to figure out what to do in life, and 3) travel based mostly on eating cultural delicacies.

I had vaguely encountered Momofuku by surfing the 'net about food. It was when I was armed with a gift card at Barnes & Noble that I saw the book, "Momofuku," and had the means to buy it. It is part memoir, part cookbook, part photography, and part comical. I so admired the book that I stayed with a cashier for at least 15 minutes while he tried to take the smudge off the cover, couldn't, and then called other stores to see if they had a pristine copy, which I then drove all the way across town, from St. Louis Park to St. Paul, to buy. It's sounds silly, I know, but it is so neat to find a restauranteur and food lover who cares about simple noodles. During that 15 minutes, I watched a woman lose her misbehaved child, helped her look for him, witnessed some near-abuse followed by gift-buying for said child, and saw a homeless guy kicked out of the store. Good times! Just being-in-waiting has its rewards. Cultural entertainment is all around you.

Back to Momofuku. You have to read the story to know where the name comes from. The short version is that it's the name of the guy who invented packaged ramen noodles. What a cool legacy that is! Anyway, crazy David Chang, who has few friends willing to go into business with him, opened a noodle bar in NY, called "Noodle Bar," which was quite close to failing, and now he has at least 5 restaurants that are beloved darlings of New Yorkers. He is famous. He was on the David Letterman show. And he's super-cute (you know, in a younger-brother sort of way). One of my favorite stories from the book is how he describes his marketing plan for Noodle Bar: he brought lots of money to a strip club full of Japanese female strippers, paid for lap dances and gave them his Noodle Bar business card, figuring that if he filled his restaurant with hot Japanese women, the clientele would follow. Hee-hee! Sexploitation aside, that's genius, you have to admit.

What impresses me so much about Momofuku is the simplicity of the menus. Noodle Bar opened with a few versions of noodles and pickled vegetables. Beverages were severely limited. Exchange was cash only. I think that restaurants often have WAY too many things on the menu. In other cases, too few (Craftsman, take note). When I go to a restaurant it is an event, and I want to know, at least in part, what I'm about to put into my mouth. I don't want oodles of flourishing descriptions to read about the main course; I rely on my waitron to clue me in on the details. When I read one of those descriptions, I ask the waitron, "So, what does it TASTE like?" Hello! Please don't go on and on and on about tarragon-infused blah blah blah... you know? Speaking of blah blah blah... there I go again off on a tangent.

Now David Chang is rich & famous, and his restaurants are hard to get into. Oh, well. Here is a recipe from the book, which is so simple and so enlightened.

BUTTERMILK DRESSING
makes 1/2 cup

Whisk together:

1/2 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 T sour cream
scant 1/2 t kosher salt, or more if needed
generous 1/4 t sriracha (rooster sauce), or more if needed

In the book, this is served with raw fluke, soy & poppy seeds. When he invented the dressing, he and his staff ate it on leftover baked potatoes. That is pretty darn good. WAY better than ranch dressing on potatoes.

In the coming months of darkness, I will be adding sunshine to my world by cooking from the inspiration of David Chang. Look for more neat ideas. Also, Chinese New Year is coming on February 3rd, and I will be creating another fabulous feast that will include egg rolls, which I just made all by myself. And they are way better than what you can get in a restaurant. Also a future post about paladares.

Dump Soup

The photos above were taken this morning, and Ariel inspired this post. She brought a variety of things to my bed (a ball, some blocks, paper, toys) and told me she was making soup. Things kept being added to the soup, and stirred. Also, a photo of my pantry, which is right now totally random and messy.

I learned this recipe from a music teacher I worked with when I was teaching in the public schools. She was an unusual woman, a big woman, not exactly fat (although she did talk about Weight Watchers points during lunch every day), just large and intense. She was older than me, lived alone and was concentrating on earning her Masters in Education. Her thesis was on the power of music education in increasing math test scores. She was so passionate about her vocation, that while teaching a roomful of disrespectful, wild, obnoxious kids, her enthusiasm made her sweat profusely.

I liked her a lot, and she was very smart, if a tad socially inept. The kind of person I enjoy working with, but wouldn't really want to hang out with. You know what I mean. When she told me about Dump Soup, I admit I thought it was sort of low-class. I was a bit of a food snob at that time. Nevertheless, I tried it and loved it!


The DUMP SOUP recipe is this: Dump 5 cans of stuff from the pantry into a large pot on the stove. Cook until hot enough to eat.


This is my preferred Dump Soup:

1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can green beans
1 can chicken broth

These days, I don't keep canned corn or green beans or chicken stock in my pantry, so I have to improvise. As always, I'm not going to tell you how to improvise, because I know y'all know how to cook!

I know you don't believe me; I'm telling you: it's good! One time a few winters ago, we had a visitor stop by on a 3-hour layover. I had no time to make something elegant and fabulous for my foodie food snob friend, so I made Dump Soup and didn't tell him what it was. And by god to hell, he loved it! He said it was PERFECT! So, modestly I said, "Oh, I just whipped this up," like, "Oh, this old thing? I just threw this on." And it was true!

Dear readers, that visitor was one of YOU. Do you remember?

The moral of the story is: the flavor of food is about perception. Surrounded by loving friends and family, food can always taste exquisite. Especially if it is pretend food.

Favorite New Products

Have you tried my Sexy Smoked Salmon Sandwich? I've been eating it frequently since that post, with modifications. I love mixing wasabi mayonnaise from this little can of wasabi powder, and I use it instead of dijon mustard in many things. Goes great with fish!

Some of my readers don't like mayonnaise. Well, that just sucks for you.

Some recent time ago, I had some alone time to shop at the famous Mall of America. I purchased some much-needed boots. Then I was allowed more time alone at the famous Mall of America. There is a great kitchen store there, where I always find something I didn't know I needed. I got this little vegetable scrubber gadget that hooks onto my finger. The bristles are good and stiff, and it is SO comfortable. Great for potatoes.

One of my readers just LOVES potatoes. This gadget is for YOU.

Also at that store I found honeycomb silicone pot holders that are pliable, and dishwasher safe! I love those things!

It's been a while since I bought the lucky elephant salt & pepper shakers, but I still love them every day. Some of my readers think that goofy salt & pepper shakers are really nerdy. If that's you, well, you didn't have an Aunt Minnie who had a collection of character salt & pepper shakers, that were kept in a glass case. I did. I admired that collection with awe. Unfortunately, it was not passed down in the family.